Shloka 19
The Birth of Mahārāja Parīkṣit and Prophecies of His Greatness
ब्राह्मणा ऊचु: पार्थ प्रजाविता साक्षादिक्ष्वाकुरिव मानव: । ब्रह्मण्य: सत्यसन्धश्च रामो दाशरथिर्यथा ॥ १९ ॥
brāhmaṇā ūcuḥ pārtha prajāvitā sākṣād ikṣvākur iva mānavaḥ brahmaṇyaḥ satya-sandhaś ca rāmo dāśarathir yathā
The brāhmaṇas said: “O son of Pṛthā, in protecting and sustaining the people he will be like Ikṣvāku, son of Manu. And in upholding brahminical principles—especially truthfulness to his vow—he will be like Lord Rāma, the son of Daśaratha.”
Prajā means the living being who has taken his birth in the material world. Actually the living being has no birth and no death, but because of his separation from the service of the Lord and due to his desire to lord it over material nature, he is offered a suitable body to satisfy his material desires. In doing so, one becomes conditioned by the laws of material nature, and the material body is changed in terms of his own work. The living entity thus transmigrates from one body to another in 8,400,000 species of life. But due to his being the part and parcel of the Lord, he not only is maintained with all necessaries of life by the Lord, but also is protected by the Lord and His representatives, the saintly kings. These saintly kings give protection to all the prajās, or living beings, to live and to fulfill their terms of imprisonment. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was actually an ideal saintly king because while touring his kingdom he happened to see that a poor cow was about to be killed by the personified Kali, whom he at once took to task as a murderer. This means that even the animals were given protection by the saintly administrators, not from any sentimental point of view, but because those who have taken their birth in the material world have the right to live. All the saintly kings, beginning from the King of the sun globe down to the King of the earth, are so inclined by the influence of the Vedic literatures. The Vedic literatures are taught in higher planets also, as there is reference in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.1) about the teachings to the sun-god (Vivasvān) by the Lord, and such lessons are transferred by disciplic succession, as it was done by the sun-god to his son Manu, and from Manu to Mahārāja Ikṣvāku. There are fourteen Manus in one day of Brahmā, and the Manu referred to herein is the seventh Manu, who is one of the prajāpatis (those who create progeny), and he is the son of the sun-god. He is known as the Vaivasvata Manu. He had ten sons, and Mahārāja Ikṣvāku is one of them. Mahārāja Ikṣvāku also learned bhakti-yoga as taught in the Bhagavad-gītā from his father, Manu, who got it from his father, the sun-god. Later on the teaching of the Bhagavad-gītā came down by disciplic succession from Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, but in course of time the chain was broken by unscrupulous persons, and therefore it again had to be taught to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. So all the Vedic literatures are current from the very beginning of creation of the material world, and thus the Vedic literatures are known as apauruṣeya (“not made by man”). The Vedic knowledge was spoken by the Lord and first heard by Brahmā, the first created living being within the universe.
FAQs
This verse highlights that an ideal king protects and nurtures the citizens, honors brāhmaṇas and Vedic culture (brahmaṇya), and remains unwaveringly truthful (satya-sandha), exemplified by Ikṣvāku and Lord Rāma.
In Canto 1 Chapter 12, after Parīkṣit’s birth and protection by the Lord, the brāhmaṇas bless and foretell the child’s future virtues to Arjuna, assuring him that the Kuru dynasty will have a righteous successor.
By keeping promises, speaking truth without malice, and aligning daily choices with dharma—truthfulness becomes a lived vow rather than a mere ideal.